56. I don't think so. Check this out:

Underwood's press release links to an April 18 letter in which her predecessor, Eric Schneiderman, a prominent Trump antagonist, lays out the case for closing this loophole:

The problem arises under Article 40 of the Criminal Procedure Law. Under that law, jeopardy attaches when a defendant pleads guilty, or, if the defendant proceeds to a jury trial, the moment the jury is sworn. If any of those steps occur in a federal prosecution, then a subsequent prosecution for state crimes "based upon the same act or criminal transaction" cannot proceed, unless an exception applies. New York's law provides exceptions when a court nullifies a prior criminal proceeding (such as when an appeals court vacates a conviction), or even when a federal court overturns a federal conviction because the prosecution failed to establish an element of the crime that is not an element of the New York crime. But there is no parallel exception for when the President effectively nullifies a federal criminal prosecution via pardon.

Thus, if a federal defendant pleads guilty to a federal crime, or if a jury is sworn in a federal criminal trial against that defendant, and then the President pardons that individual, this New York statute could be invoked to argue that a subsequent state prosecution is barred. Simply put, a defendant pardoned by the President for a serious federal crime could be freed from all accountability under federal and state criminal law, even though the President has no authority under the U.S. Constitution to pardon state crimes.

10. One thing Mueller almost certainly will not give up

The right to prosecute for future, campaign-related crimes. The way things are now, Manafort will have that over his head, and political speaking, Trump can't pardon Manafort for a campaign-related collusion that Trump says never happened anyway.

19. Mueller wouldn't do this without getting something

Even if Manafort is pardoned Mueller would still have whatever info he got from him to use against drumpf. Mueller isn't making a deal with nothing in return. People who think that haven't been paying attention to what he has done up to now.

24. Agreed

He's already convicted. Why would a prosecutor agree to a plea deal when a jury has already said the perp is guilty? The only logical explanation seems to be that the prosecutor is getting something he/she don't already have.

26. C'mon man

Do you think Mueller would agree to any plea deal with an already CONVICTED Felon facing 75 years AND ADD 2 CHARGES TODAY CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE if he wasn't getting every damn thing wants?!?

30. Exactly! Mueller is nobody's pushover.

31. I hope so, but....

We've had the rug pulled from under us too many times.

Also, one analyst I heard said that if Mueller believes Trump will pardon Manafort, he might not want to commit so many resources to a trial that is not likely to add THAT much more time to Manafort's sentence than the two he's pleading to.

36. Really

He's already got a conviction. If he gets a guilty plea and does not have to use several of his best prosecutors in another trial, he may want to conserve resources. The pardon could come from Trump with or without a plea deal in this case, with or without a conviction in this case. Why risk weeks of trial and a possible (remotely possible) loss (loss would include hung jury, in my opinion)?

A guilty plea adds credibility to the entire investigation, making it publicly harder for Trump and Repugs to shut down the investigation. Mueller cannot control pardon power of president. A conviction by plea is still a conviction.

32. Now is a good time for people to remind themselves that putting all their hopes in Mueller to

43. Yes this.

Remember Fitzmas?
It's here again. Nothing will change regardless of Mueller's findings.
It's on us, the people. If we don't get moving, vote, protest, fight - we'll just watch the destruction of our country continue.
First opportunity is in November. If we flip the House, we'll have some momentum and hope again.
Fight back - a bully backs off when we confront them - and the right are all bullies.

46. He is talking to Mueller

47. No it is good news; just admit it

This should be a reminder to posters not to jump the gun, especially with doom and gloom posts. As one prosecutor just said, this is bad news for drumpf because Manafort will be giving firsthand info on a criminal (drumpf) who doesn't use email or texts that could incriminate him.

53. I would think with cooperation provisions that a pardon would be a clear count of obstruction. nt

54. Cooperating with Mueller might help in in plea deals with the States who are lining up.

Especially since Mueller is sharing his evidence with the various State AGs, who have not only Manafort in their sights, but a lot of other suspects - especially local Mobs and local corruption - on their radars to deal with that might not be looking at Federal charges.

And Manafort can't be pardoned for State crimes. So cooperating with Mueller might be a signal that he will also cooperate with them.